System console

[Altera_Forum]

Dear All, 

 We are sending data from one cyclone III development board to two boards (of the same type) via Ethernet connection.  The link is detected on both receivers, but no data is sent from the transmitter to any of the receiving boards, except when removing the second receiving board & connecting only the transmitter and the first receiving board.  We created an SR & altera suggested to use a system console for debugging. In this case, is it enough to use JTAG to Avalon Master bridge a debugging module, or we may need other components to be added to the system?  Waiting your suggestions.  Thanks & Regards

[Altera_Forum]

SystemConsole (on its own) gives you access to the target system but will not immediately tell you what's going wrong. If you put a JTAG Avalon master in your system then you will be able to read and write through it to get access to slaves connected to it. 

 Whether this is useful depends on which slaves you have connected. You may be able to access registers in the Ethernet macs which give you more information. Alternatively you could write a simple debug slave and use that to return information about what is happening.  Or you could use the transceiver toolkit to check how your interface logic is set up, but if you can transmit 1:1 then that is at least partially working.  I wonder whether your problem is lower level than that though. If I remember right then switched Ethernet sends flow control frames in the opposite direction to the data. Without these frames the transmitter won't send anything.   If your connection cable does not connect the tx pins from the receiving board to the rx pins on the transmitting board then the flow control won't get through. Alternatively if it connects multiple sets of tx pins on all the receiving boards to the transmitting board's rx pins then the different tx pins will interfere with each other.  Could you use SignalTap with suitable triggers to record what is happening on the rx pins of the transmit board?

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  SystemConsole (on its own) gives you access to the target system but will not immediately tell you what's going wrong. If you put a JTAG Avalon master in your system then you will be able to read and write through it to get access to slaves connected to it.  Whether this is useful depends on which slaves you have connected. You may be able to access registers in the Ethernet macs which give you more information. Alternatively you could write a simple debug slave and use that to return information about what is happening.  Or you could use the transceiver toolkit to check how your interface logic is set up, but if you can transmit 1:1 then that is at least partially working.  I wonder whether your problem is lower level than that though. If I remember right then switched Ethernet sends flow control frames in the opposite direction to the data. Without these frames the transmitter won't send anything.   If your connection cable does not connect the tx pins from the receiving board to the rx pins on the transmitting board then the flow control won't get through. Alternatively if it connects multiple sets of tx pins on all the receiving boards to the transmitting board's rx pins then the different tx pins will interfere with each other.  Could you use SignalTap with suitable triggers to record what is happening on the rx pins of the transmit board?  --- Quote End ---    Thank you very much for your reply.  1- Do you mean that we need to connect both the transmitting and receiving pin in the first receiving board to those in the second receiving board; as the control signals will be sent via these pins. If yes what is the function of transmit and receive control signal?   2- Kindly check that attached file, it represent the system connection and give me your feedback.  3-Do you have any suggestion for sending data from a transmitter to more than one receiver? we really appreciate your help & support.  Kind Regards